High Court Upholds Presidential Pardons of Shin Bet Officials

The High Court of Justice upheld Wednesday the pardons granted by President Chaim Herzog to the head of the Shin Bet intelligence agency, Avraham Shalom, and three Shin Bet officials in the 1984 case in which two Palestinian bus-hijackers were killed in Israeli custody.

Several groups of private attorneys and the Citizens Rights Movement had petitioned to invalidate the pardons.

The court also turned down a request that it order the government to investigate the affair, accepting Attorney General Yosef Harish’s statement that the police would investigate.

The court was asked to rule following the pardons issued some six weeks ago, even though the four officials have not been tried for their alleged involvement in the cover-up of the killings.

Justices Meir Shamgar and Miriam Ben Porat upheld the pardons. They ruled that the President could grant a pardon at any stage of a case, even before trial, and out of any consideration, including that of security. This means the President’s authority to pardon individuals is practically unlimited.

Dissenting Justice Aharon Barak decided such authority was in conflict with the democratic principles of the State.

The investigation’s ruling was unanimous.

EXPECTED TO SEEK PARDONS

With the pardons upheld, subordinate Shin Bet officials were expected to seek pardons, too. Justice Minister Avraham Sharir had earlier declared that he was freezing further treatment of pardons until the court decision was studied.

Immediately following the decision, Police In specter General David Kraus gave the go-ahead to the special investigations team. Kraus announced last month that the team had gathered and analyzed the relevant information.

Herzog had no official reaction to the decision. His spokesman said any additional requests for pardons would be evaluated on their own merits.

Sharir said the decision was a step toward terminating the affair. Harish also expressed satisfaction. Former Justice Minister Yitzhak Modai said the decision showed that the government had acted correctly on the inquiry. He expressed hope that the commotion surrounding the affair would dissipate.

Citizens Rights Movement MK Yossi Sarid also expressed satisfaction and said that the result was expected. “We have achieved our main target,” he said, to force the government to open an official investigation.” It was begun, he said, “only under the sword of the High Court of Justice.”

The losing petitioners can appeal to the President of the Supreme Court, Shamgar, to appoint a special forum of five justices for an additional ruling, which can overrule that of the three-justice panel. However, the forum can be established only if there is evidence that is “hard, new and important.”